An Axis of Perdition “Apertures”
Apertures will be released December 13th on Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings
The U.K.’s An Axis of Perdition are an act that takes great inspiration from the themes and emotions of horror movies. Formed in 2001, the band has gone through many name iterations, from Axis of Perdition, The Axis of Perdition, to now settling on An Axis of Perdition. I became a fan of the band after the release of their second album, 2005’s Deleted Scenes from the Transition Hospital. Following the band’s fourth album Tenements (of The Anointed Flesh) in 2011, the band went dormant with only a compilation and an EP in 2020. Now, returning from the depths of the dark and mysterious, the band has returned with their first new album in thirteen years with Apertures. After over a decade in darkness and finally awaking from its slumber, did An Axis of Perdition release an unholy nightmare upon the masses?
The album opens with the intro “Corrupted Pulse”. Building with warping industrial effects and horror movie-esque thumping, it builds an ominous and foreboding intro to the album. Giving off vibes of anxiety, unease and worry as the song’s emphasis on sound design and atmosphere truly sets the stage for the album. Creating music that would create great cinematic build in any horror movie, show or video game.
“Metempsychosis” opens with distorted guitars, almost genre blended between post-metal, progressive death metal and black metal. With an underlying thumping kick drum, into hostile double bass kicks, the song gets off and running right from the get-go. Drums are really the driving force of the song, with every kick punching through in the mix. With palm-muted guitars adding to the hurry-up effect of the drumming. I love the progressive metal guitar switch-ups throughout, giving off a darker Opeth vibe at certain moments, as the drums deliver complex fills and cymbal strikes. Vocals come in low, gritty and gravelly. Creating an image of an unholy entity delivering its dark message amongst the onslaught of evil and uneasiness throughout. Giving off similar vibes of Portal or Mitochondrion. The instrumentation and creativity of the band’s music is intriguing as the song progresses. Dissonant, yet progressive, up front and polished at some points, while brash and harsh at others. Very strong opening track. Delivering a lot of unique elements of industrial, progressive, black metal and ambience that helps the band deliver a dark and unknowing message. Dreary and downtrodden environments open “The Undercity Await”. Another short interlude, the band knows how to encapsulate horror, anxiety, dread and fear in these interludes. Even in its simplest pieces of pulsing thumps and ringing guitars, it does create that perfect horror movie feeling of hopelessness.
Unique paced guitars open “Chant of The Worshipful Prey”. With string strikes amidst the chugging guitars and complex pacing of the drums, the music does deliver that unknowing fear of the dark as the vocals come in. The music almost borders on blackened sludge, which I actually like that combination of genres. Creating that snarling, demented vocal delivery that creates that occult like performance. While also mixing the downtrodden, depressing thud of sludge and musical weight with every strum and drum hit. The double bass combo at the halfway mark, combined with the lead guitars and progressive metal sounding guitars was an awesome touch and adds a unique twist on the track. My favorite track off the album personally. “Sewer of Lethe” is another interlude that is soaked in reverb and water effects. Creating a dank, dark and endless cavern-like effect. An image of treading into the dark and not knowing whether you will come back from it the same or changed. Especially with the warping effects in the mix, it does add a Lovecraftian/Eldritch horror aesthetic to it as well.
“The Truth is There To Tear Apart” opens with clean guitar strums, jagged effects and tons of warping and reverb. Dynamic in nature, it continues the band’s expertise of creating that sonic soundscape of evil and darkness. Similar vibes to “Chant of The Worshipful Prey” in the song’s play style of sludgy progressive black metal. Drums really do take the song to the next level, in-between unique guitar soloing. Segueing into the jagged, almost sword-sounding strikes into distorted and mutated vocals. Making the song also venture into the depressive suicidal black metal range after the halfway mark. Which the band can play in that water any day and compete with some of the best in that genre. “Unimaginable Depths” continues the industrial-heavy interludes of the album. Heavily mixed and mutated piano effects, amongst the electrical effects and plinking noises continues the descent from the previous interlude “Sewer of Lethe”. A nice companion piece to that one, adding a story depth as the album comes closer to its dark conclusion.
“Private Acts of Abnegation” opens with haunting choir-like effects amongst a heart-pumping kick drum. The most industrial sounding piece, it hits the ground with a heavy thud as the guitars come in right behind it. It sounds like their might be a string section as well at certain moments in the song, but it seems buried amongst the mix of effects and chugging guitars. As the song amps up, the music becomes more disjointed and uneasy, which creates that tension in a good horror movie that I think the band was going for. Dread and bleakness gets captured well during that piece before returning to the main riff. Another nice guitar solo after the halfway mark, with the strings now more present, segues into effects and digital strikes amongst the riff and drum combo. With the double bass picking up amidst glass shattering notes, drenched in distortion and ear-piercing highs as the song comes to a close.
The final interlude, “Flesh Underfoot”, gives the listener an image of reaching the end of its trek into the unknown and seeing the error of your way. Creating a feeling of tenseness, doubt, regret and unwilling acceptance. Album closer “I Am Odium” opens with jangly, heavily distorted guitars soaked in reverb. Drums and guitars are more up-tempo on this track compared to the last couple non-interlude tracks. Soaring electric guitars over the pulsing double bass creates a tease of heaven as the notes soar to the heavens in the space of the mix. Before the grimy, black metal guitars and vocals grab you by the leg and pull you back down. The chorus is very upbeat and almost uplifting in the delivery. A sharp contrast from the darkness of the entire album. Very progressive metal in the tempo, pacing, and complexity of the guitars. Around the four minute mark, the song begins to transform with elements of industrial effects, heavier inflection of double bass and guitars becoming more erratic and unpredictable. Closing out the album with one more soaring guitar solo above machine gun like double bass.
Apertures was a unique record that does deliver the horror and bleakness that the band was going for. Creative, complex and musically all over the place in experimentation. For me, it did have its peak moments through many of the songs, and the genre-hopping was a nice change of pace. For me though, I think about halfway through the album, the songs unfortunately seemed to sound too similar enough in the beginning or sounded too similar to one another. Making it hard to tell the other apart or name it by song title. Maybe different effects, song structure or instrumentation could have maybe could have set them apart while also continuing the nuance of the evil and darkness the band was delivering on the album. This could also be a record that could grow on me the more I listen to it, and my views could change the more I listen to it, but that is my only critique. At the end of the day, An Axis of Perdition did deliver a horror movie soundtrack to its own dark masterpiece.
SCORE: 3.5 / 5
You can stream Apertures when it comes out on December 13th on the band’s Spotify. If you want to purchase the album through Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings, you can purchase it at the label’s Bandcamp.
